Village guard living in slum area claims P356-M Grand Lotto prize

TICKET TO TREASURE ISLAND. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II, PCSO chief, shows the P20 lotto and validation tickets that won over P356 million. JOSEPH MUEGO/CONTRIBUTOR

MANILA, Philippines—This barangay “tanod” now probably needs his own bodyguards.

A village watchman too poor to send his children to school has claimed the more than P356-million jackpot in Wednesday night’s 6/55 Grand Lotto draw, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) disclosed on Thursday.

The lucky bettor from Las Piñas City paid only P20 for a single ticket that hit the winning combination 5-9-19-26-30-45, according to PCSO media officer Joseph Muego.

It turned out that the overnight millionaire many times over recently received financial aid from PCSO.

PCSO General Manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said the winner sought the agency’s help last month and got P30,000 in medical assistance for his daughter’s hospitalization.

Accompanied by his son, the 60-year-old bettor showed up on Thursday morning in the PCSO head office at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, this time to claim a much bigger amount, the second biggest prize in the state lottery.

Muego said the winner was also a part-time carpenter who did not finish his studies and whose six children had all dropped out of school.

“Now I don’t even know how to count my winnings,” Muego quoted the new millionaire saying.

The bettor hit the jackpot after three years of occasionally buying tickets whenever he had money to spare. He picked the numbers based on his wedding anniversary and his children’s birthdays, the PCSO official said.

Sharing

Having lived in a slum area for years, the man plans to build a new house, start a business, and share his good fortune with his siblings in Bicol, Muego added.

“Neither he nor his children had gone to school and his six children, all but one of them married, still live with him in his tiny shack,” another PCSO aide told Agence France-Presse.

The aide said the latest winner, who under lottery rules is never identified for security reasons, beat odds of one in 29 million on a six-number combination.

“The old man is really lucky. Others would bet thousands of pesos each time and not win anything,” the aide said.

Wednesday’s prize was the second biggest-ever win in the Philippine state lottery. The jackpot had increased as there were no winners in 43 previous draws.

In December last year, the lottery paid out a record P741 million to a 63-year-old US-based Filipino who had bought the winning ticket while vacationing in the Philippines.